Thursday, December 29, 2011

Other women may want diamonds and expensive clothes for Christmas but all I really want is English chocolate and one special book. The book that I asked for this year (and received!) is "The Mystery of Lewis Carroll" and is written by a former BBC journalist from England named Jenny Woolf. (I am sorry that my photo of the book is on its side but I don't know how to make it go right side up!) I have not had time to read this book other than just to skim through it on Christmas day to see where it mentions Eastbourne! (He spent every August the last thirty years of his life in Eastbourne, which is on the southeast coast of England, and I am so pleased to know some of the places he visited!) The very interesting thing about this book for me is that the author was able to obtain the records of all the bank accounts for Lewis Carroll and can therefore relay exactly how and where his money was spent in his lifetime. Jenny Woolf also writes a wonderful blog and you can find her at www.jennywoolftravel.blogspot.com She is an excellent writer. Visit her blog and you will not be disappointed, I promise! After I finish this book, I hope to write more about it. Somehow, it is very hard to write about books on my blog. I just want to say, here is a good book...read it!

Okay, now technically, those are English biscuits covered in chocolate (and they say biscuits in England whereas we call them cookies in the USA) but please know they are WONDERFUL! The nice thing about them, even though they are from England, they were purchased at our local Target! (Unless, Santa found them somewhere else!) Oh, and speaking of Santa... I always believed in Santa so very much growing up. My older sister knew from a very early age that our parents did everything and that no Santa came down our chimney... SHE NEVER TOLD ME THIS AND LET ME BELIEVE! She knew how much I loved him, you see. I hope you have someone in your life who does wonderful things like that for you...
Oh, and you see the nice young man dressed in the vintage Christmas sweatshirt? Remember little C. with Santa? That is little C. but not so little anymore! We still didn't open his letter to Santa, we will keep it in the special Christmas book...

And I hope everyone likes this cartoon..but it especially reminds me of the librarian in Germany (www.librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com) and also of that nice sister of mine who works in a library!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Hello to everyone! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to a brand new year!
Richard and I took the day off after Christmas and we spent another lovely day at Stone Mountain. While we were hiking on the Cherokee Trail and because we had a heavy rain the night before, the smell of the pines was so intense and the air so clean and fresh, that it made me feel as if I was very far away, as if we had travelled a very long way to get to such a beautiful spot. This made me think of a book: "The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the Southern Californian Experience". Now, I really would love it if you would read that book and let me know what you think of it. It goes into such detail, not just about the genius of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, but also his family background and the whole history of Southern California. Where can you go to that might not be too far from you but makes you feel as if you are very far away?

Tonight, Dec. 27th, did anyone notice the night sky? (It rained in the Atlanta area today and the skies tonight were very cloudy.) Venus and the moon are very close together and you should have been able to see them in the sky looking south just before dark. You might think that Venus is a star but it is, of course, a planet. At the moment, it is 11 times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. ( If you missed Venus and the moon, don't worry, just mark your calendar, because the two of them together will occur a month from now, on Jan. 25th and Jan. 26th.) This pairing is called a conjunction in astonomical terms.
Currently, Venus is 123 million miles (197 million kilometers) and the moon is 275,000 miles (379,000 kilometers) from the earth. Just think, our naked eye can see a planet that is 123 million miles away. Reading about Venus and the moon appearing together made me think of that phrase...the nearest faraway place...

Would love to hear from anyone that noticed this in the sky and perhaps wondered about it...

Friday, December 23, 2011

This photo was made in 1962 at Oval Road Primary School in Croydon, England. The tall Joseph is my husband, Richard, looking a bit shy, don't you think? Don't you love all these children's faces? I wonder where they all now? Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone recognized them and let me know?

By the way, did anyone hear the story from Ireland about the letter that was found in a chimney that a child had placed in there for Santa Claus? The letter was dated 1911! It was found during a renovation a few years back but the owner just made it public. A man who lived about a hundred miles away read the story and realized that it was written by his own mother. She had passed away years ago, so what an amazing and wonderful gift it was for the gentleman. I read it on the BBC website. Here is the link, www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-16301048
I have been holding onto a letter from 1997 that our son wrote to Santa Claus. He put a stamp on it and mailed it, but since he put his return address at the bottom of the envelope, it was returned to us in the mail! I carefully put it into one of my Christmas books...should I open it this year and tell you what it says? Should I wait and give it to him and let a future grandchild open it? What do you say? My friends say they can't believe I could hold on to it for all these years, but I have always loved anticipation!

This photo is of our sweet little son when he was three years old. He is all grown up now having just turned 22! Just look at his face, he was always very excited to see Santa Claus! Now, this Santa Claus was our "local" Santa. We took our boy to the Mall and had his photo made with the very slick professional looking Santa and little C. then asked us when would we go to see the "real" Santa. What we didn't know is that this Santa was Bernie Bourdon. Originally from Montreal, Canada, he moved to Georgia after he had lost his wife. (They had been living in Florida). He planned on becoming a monk and lived for a time at the Monastery. (I have mentioned the Monastery before in my earlier posts in September.) Once there, the monks advised him to think and to pray upon his decision to become a monk since he was so outgoing. Bernie began to work with as he called it "the homeless and the helpless". He began a company called "Tech-Able" which was for disabled people to adapt and modify toys and electronics so as to be able to sell them. Also, he started the "Meals On Wheels" program which is still run by several churches today, but Bernie Bourdon is the one who first began this program. Bernie won several awards for all his work. There is a bridge named after him now in this county. He passed away a few years ago but we still have our memories of the REAL Santa! Just look at that photo of his face and see if you don't see the kindness in his eyes. He would take little C's hands into his very large hands and say, "Remember, this Christmas, how much your Mommy and Daddy love you". At the time I didn't know that he had planned on becoming a monk, I just felt that I was in the presence of someone very special and our son knew that too.

Oh, and in one of my earlier posts, I said that I didn't like a lot of the Christmas music with all the runs and trills. Well, this week I listened to every bit of it that I could, and I love it from the most serious to the silliest, I love it all! I wish everyone all the joy in the world during this most special time of year!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Not sure if anyone else saw this one but I thought it was funny and wanted to share it here. I have a Christmas card that shows a snowman finding lumps of coal in his stocking... he takes them out and then puts them on his face and says, "I can see, I can see!" I love that cartoon. It's positive and funny!

If you would like to read a poem that I like very much by Sarah Rossiter, you may find ithere.
Merry Christmas to everyone and hope you all have joy at this season and all through the year.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Since my husband and I discovered Arabia Mountain this year, we wondered if we could climb both Arabia Mountain and Stone Mountain on the same day. On Saturday, we did! Richard says that we climbed almost eleven hunded vertical feet. It might not be Mt. Everest, but we were very happy about it. Keep in mind, my husband was very ill in late August, early September and we kept promising ourselves we would be on Stone Mountain in October. We had some wonderful times on Arabia Mountain too. Look back at my posts in October and November if you want to see those climbs! The weather was beautiful, clear blue skies and the temperature in the 50's. Beautiful for a hike...

The above photos were all taken at Arabia Mountain in the late morning. All the trees are stripped bare of their leaves but they look lovely and grey in amongst the green of the pines. The pink flowers are diamorpha and I think that this almost looks heart-shaped. The circle of stones is in a fairly sheltered spot so it is a bit camouflaged. I made this back in October and it is still there!

We actually climbed Arabia twice before we left there for the day! Straight home for a cup of tea and a bite to eat and then, back out again for Stone Mountain, where we stayed until sunset and then went to see some of the lights at the base of the mountain. The sun was low and the shadows that were cast on the mountain were very elongated. I wish the camera could see it the way that our eyes did!

That is Atlanta in the distance!

This is the lake in the shadow of the mountain. Those are the cable car lines in the photo.

Wait, is that an angel on Stone Mountain?

Nope, it's only me! Richard caught me in the sunshine!

That is Richard's shadow on the left of this photo.
See how lovely the light is?

Here we are two thirds down the mountain and we just watched the sun set.

Hope everyone is having fun this time of year. Wish everyone as much joy as we had on TWO mountains!

Friday, December 16, 2011

As an American, I was amazed the first time I saw pebbles on an English beach. I think they are so beautiful. Just look at them! They make such a sound when the waves pick them up and dash them down again, over and over...

These flowers are called the Carpet Gardens and the beds are changed out every season. They were about to be changed here, but they are still lovely.

See my husband and son smiling at me?

They have run out of Pimm's! Oh well, maybe next time! Hope you enjoyed our day at the seafront in Eastbourne.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

After leaving church on Sunday, I turned on the radio and the song that I heard rhymed "Jesus was born" with "Santa Claus and popcorn". Oh well, from the sublime to the ridiculous! For me, some of the Christmas music is just horrible to listen to with even the simplest of songs with trills and runs. Right now I like to listen to the music from the Nutcracker Suite and the music from a Charlie Brown Christmas. That really is the perfect music for Advent, not really Christmas , so you can't have the carols yet! The music from Charlie Brown, how new and different was that in the 60's! It was like a breath of fresh air and I still love it after all these years. I never tire of the music from the Nutcracker. I have seen it in Atlanta several times, but it isn't necessary for me to see the ballet to enjoy the music.

Everyone has favorite Christmas movies that they like to see and there are some really good ones. ("It's A Wonderful Life" is one of my absolute FAVORITES with such great acting. I think I may know that one by heart!) In the early 70's, I saw that the movie "Scrooge " was coming on TV and I asked my Dad if he would sit and watch it with me. I do believe that it is the ONLY time I have ever watched an entire movie with him. He watched every minute of it and after it was over and I asked him if he liked it, he looked at me with his arms folded and said this one word: "GOOD". It was so funny, but he said it with such conviction, he didn't have to really say anything else. That's my Dad!

It really is a great movie. The music is by Leslie Bricusse and that sounds like a French name, doesn't it? Wrong! He is from England! The music and dancing really complement the story by Charles Dickens. When we were in Eastbourne, I was thrilled to see a house across the street from the Lamb that showed Charles Dickens had visited there. Of course he would have visited there, it was across the street from a great pub! That's Charles Dickens for you!

The carolers in the photo are made from toilet rolls (or bog rolls in England!) and the middle one was made by my son when he was about seven years old. I made the other two myself last year just to keep that other one company. Isn't it funny that the middle one is the best one? That's my boy!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Make your house as fair as you are able, trim the hearth and set the table.

Look East and sing today, Love the guest is on the way.

"Make your house AS FAIR AS YOU ARE ABLE"...yes, that is exactly what I do! That is my grapevine wreath that I have now had for almost twenty years. Each year I retrieve it from the garage and then I set to work on it. Some years I try different kinds of greenery, this year it is cedar, Indian Hawthorn (it has the blue berries, Richard says they are quite poisonous!), English ivy, and cleyera. Someone from church gave me those little white flowers, and I think they set it off nicely!

Do you notice the green plant just to the left of our front door? That suffered a bit during Richard's illness, it was big and full all summer long...can anyone guess what it is? Here is a hint: it's very popular at Christmas! Give up? It is a poinsettia! This was from our last Christmas... which we hope we don't spend in the emergency room of the hospital like we did last year! That was my fault. A bit overdoing things, I had hurt my back and then I took medication which I was allergic to and ended up passing out on Christmas Day. Christmas Day! What a bummer! Now, when I pass out, I can't just fall over on the carpet. No, no that's not my style, I have to look for the sharpest object in the room. Oh look over there, a brand new space heater...bam, I fall right on it and I ended up breaking it too! So, I go to the hospital with a bad back and a very sore front! It was as if a giant had pinched me between two giant fingers! Here's the good news, I have a very strong heart! (After undergoing fun tests at the hospital.) Then, we leave the hospital and it is just getting dark and then it starts to snow! On Christmas Day in Georgia! Of course, it is only snowing because I have a bad back (and sore front) and can hardly walk, so naturally there will be slippery snow on the ground! But hey, I lived to tell the tale and it makes for a nice funny story, don't you think? My husband and son were both with me, so I am hoping that THIS year, we will be able to have a more enjoyable holiday!

So, what things do you make for your home at Christmas ? Can you share any Christmas memories that will make me laugh?

Sunday, December 11, 2011

My husband has cared for this cactus
since 1994 and it is now over 6 feet tall.
This year, for the first time EVER, it sent out
some new shoots, so he now has two that are beginning
to take root.

It is such an amazing plant, it ONLY blooms at night (these
photos were taken in the very early morning) and the
blooms are spectacular!

Today is the third Sunday in Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday. "Gaudete" in Latin means "Rejoice" and takes its name from the first words of the Mass, "Gaudete in domino semper" ( which means "Rejoice in the Lord always". ) The third candle on the Advent wreath is rose colored as this Sunday is a day of rejoicing. There is a wonderful hymn which is based on Isaiah, "The Desert Shall Rejoice and Bloom As the Rose". I often think of our night blooming cereus cactus when I sing it!

For the past two years I was asked to say a prayer before the beginning of our company Christmas party and I recited the prayer by Robert Louis Stephenson which I shared with you a few days ago. Again this year I was asked to say the prayer. ( I don't think this was because of any goodness on my part, I think that the manager is just a creature of habit!) Oh dear, surely I can't use the nice Robert Louis Stephenson prayer three years in a row, could I? Could there be something in my Book of Common Prayer that I could adapt and shorten without losing any of the meaning? Yes, that is just what I did.

Accept , O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life and for the mystery of love.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for all the people that we work with everyday.

Above all, we thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, for the truth of his Word and the example of his life. Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know Christ and make him known, and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. AMEN.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Who doesn't love this music? It is a great song but I think it is even better with these lyrics. This is so cleverly done, not just the words to the music but the puppetry is excellent too. Do you think that I like puppets? Where did you get that idea?

"It's the greatest story, anyone can see, it's the greatest story to me"

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

"Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" is one of my favorite songs during Advent. (Our church choir sings this beautifully. I would put it on my blog if I had a recording of it.) On YouTube, I listened to quite a few recordings but so many of them were so...polished and somehow just seemed like professionals doing a job rather than singing a hymn. I found a woman singing this as she was accompanied by her husband on guitar. I love this recording...you can hear children in the background, every so often you can hear someone whispering, and the recording itself isn't perfect but please stay with it and see if you are not moved by the genuine feelings that come across. You might want to just listen, but watch it too as her hands are very expressive as she sings.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Today marks the day that SIBOL reached the magical number of 120 blankets made! That means a grand total of 3000 squares that women from all over the world have either crocheted or knitted and mailed to Sue McGorie who lives in England. Sue carefully records each square received and then emails each and every person who sends her a square. She and some of her "Sibolettes" crochet the squares together and then puts a lovely border around each one. They are displayed on her website and then each one is named. Then, they are lovingly tied up with a beautiful ribbon and then taken to elderly care homes in England! Just recently, someone contacted Sue and informed her that many elderly people were suffering in their own homes due to lack of finances that they too could use some of the blankets. What do you think our Sue said? Of course, she said that she would be more than happy to share the blankets with them and so she did! Here is the website www.sunshineinternationalblanketsoflove.blogspot.com Please go and look at the blankets. They are beautiful!

I have written about SIBOL before when I mentioned in one of my posts that I like to make things and that I have sent a few squares to Sue. She truly treats each square that she receives with such respect!
And she appreciates everything that she is given. Just listen to her own words...

"Please don't ever feel your crocheting is not good enough. The other thing is - I worry about the costof postage to you all. The last thing I want is for anyone to be out of pocket. I would be grateful for one square honestly! I know postage is so expensive!"

There, doesn't that make you want to send her a whole boxful of squares? She just began this on Feb. 28, 2010 and it was in honor of her grandmother who lived until the age of 103. These blankets are truly works of art. I read on one of the crocheting websites that the crocheters and knitters should really call themselves fibre artists and I agree. I am thankful that she accepts my squares and actually uses them in the blankets. I can't wait to see my little plain Georgia snowman square in the next snowman blanket!

Monday, December 5, 2011

As I typed my last post, I listened to several songs by Doris Day before I chose "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps". There were others that I liked but I only wanted the very best sound quality to be on there.
I know most people never click on the links to the songs but I honestly spend some time to find the very best of what I want to say! Anyway, one of the songs that I listened to was "Baby It's Cold Outside".

I only had a vague memory of that song, but I really liked it in the movie, "Elf" and I have found it for you here. ( Oh, and I really liked that movie too. Will Ferrell is very often even too silly for ME but I thought this was a sweet movie and the innocence portrayed in this film was I thought quite touching. And Bob Newhart as the Elf Dad and Ed Asner as Santa Claus, they are just perfect!)

There have been so many singers that have sung this song. I just saw something that said something like 160 artists have recorded it! It got me to wondering, who WROTE the song? It was written by Frank Loesser. Please read more about him here at www.frankloesser.com "Baby It's Cold Outside"
was in the 1949 movie Neptune's Daughter starring Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban and it won the Academy Award for Best Song. The interesting thing to me is that he had actually written it a few years before as a duet for he and his wife to sing at their housewarming party for their friends! Wow, imagine going to a party and having a song like that performed for you! According to what I have read, his wife was furious that he ended up using it for the movie. And also, there was a bit of a question that it should not have been considered for the Academy Award since it wasn't WRITTEN for the movie. Since the song had never been sung professionally, it was given the go ahead to be included as a nomination and it did indeed win the Academy Award.

"Baby, It's Cold Outside" was his song all the way, he wrote the words and lyrics.
If you go to the link for Frank Loesser above, you will see that he wrote the lyrics to over 700 songs! What an amazing talent. Songwriting is such a wonder to me. How can anyone take words and music and put them together in such a way that makes them last for years and years and they never grow stale and each new generation can enjoy them? (And this applies to all music, not just popular music!) Here is another wonder for me, his daughter, Susan Loesser is a wonderful artist and you can see her work at this site - www.susanloesser.com All of his children must be so proud every time they hear their father's song on the radio. It does make me think though, that of all the singers that have sung this song, and all those who have listened to it, how many of them know who wrote it? Hey, they should all read my blog, right?

And it does get cold and snowy in Georgia, here are some photos to prove it! The cedar tree looks really lovely with the snow, doesn't it? Those are our icy cherry trees in our front yard. Remember them in the snow and I will show you how they look in the Spring. That's a promise!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Doris Day released a new album a couple of months ago in the UK. Incredibly, it debuted at number nine on the Bilboard charts. She is now 87 years old and made history by being the oldest artist ever to enter the U.K. top ten with new material. (Vera Lynn released an album a few years ago at the age of 92, but her album was of previously recorded songs. And please understand, this is just to set the record straight, I have great admiration for both of these women.) The new album is called "My Heart" and should be released in the US very soon. This song that I found on Youtube is more well known as the song from the TV show "Coupling", but I love to hear Doris Day sing it! (This is not on her new album, but I like it, so that's why it is here.)

Just by looking at Doris Day, you might think that she has had a sunny, happy life with no heartaches. That simply isn't true. She has been married four times and one of her husbands, Marty Melcher, squandered away much of her earnings, which forced her into doing a TV show in the 70's. Her only child, Terry Melcher, died in 2004 of skin cancer. She has worked tirelessly for many years trying to help stray animals in America and the proceeds from the album will go to her Doris Day Animal Foundation.

Tonight, on the news there was a moving report on ABC news about a young American soldier who had been photographed with puppies the night before he had been killed. The family worked hard to get one of the puppies so as to remember their son. As the ABC news reporter was interviewing the family, the dog walked out into the backyard and suddenly, a sunbeam shone straight down onto the dog. What a beautiful thing to capture!

Is the world too cynical for Doris Day and a dog that can bring comfort to a grieving family? Happily, not yet!

About Me

Born in Toccoa, Georgia. I married my English pen-pal in 1983 after we had written to each other for nine years. Our wonderful son was born in 1989. Comfortable around a cuppa tea or sweet iced tea, welcome to my view of life! I hope that something here will make you smile or brighten your day.